This article presents the processes that guided the production of the interactive artwork DreamArchitectonics , attempting to render perceivable the altered experience of time characteristic of the dream-state. This project originated with the observation of dream reports that were revealed, across a broad variety of contents, to be relatively invariant in form, with this form appearing to function as a mnemonic artifact allowing the dreamer to actually remember dreams. The details of the representational process applied to oneiric time and manifested in these artifacts have been identified to resonate meaningfully with poetic expression, especially in its relationship to the sensation of movement. DreamArchitectonics aims at producing the context for an experiential synthesis of this intuition and acting as the generator of phenomenological data in a disposition that the authors envision as the most fruitful for collaboration between arts and sciences.

This article reports on two art-science collaborations, A-me: Augmented Memories and BrainCloud , that interrogate the central role of localization in neuroscience—including the use of technologies that augment sociability using localization as a central reference point. The two projects result from a series of interactions where a science/technology development fostered art, which in turn led to a science application, which potentially may lead to further artistic activity. A-me is an art installation that repurposes navigation and visualization tools normally reserved for medical clinicians and scientists, inviting reflection on the ongoing endeavor of neuroscience to explain and map cognitive functions such as memory. BrainCloud is a software prototype that provides neuroscientists with an interface for interacting with existing data and knowledge about the brain. Organized visually as a brain atlas, it forms a social network that allows neuroscientists to connect and share their ongoing research and ideas.

Geophonography is a practice of sonifying the geological record, of tracing what Friedrich Kittler referred to as “signatures of the real.” The aesthetic efficacy of techniques for audifying and visualizing data derived from geological materials is discussed within the context of Ur-writings , a piece by the author first exhibited in 2013. Tracing a line through the work of Freud, Adorno, Kittler, Ballard and Derrida, geophonography is positioned within a cultural context that has continued to draw inspiration from speculations upon the relation between earth and mind.

Quantum mechanics sits uncomfortably with “conventional reality,” defined as knowable, objective and mind-independent. There seems to be no consensus among physicists as to what the findings of quantum mechanics mean for conventional reality. Drawing on concepts of quantum mechanics, the author makes artworks that provoke viewers to doubt conventional reality. Here, she discusses two of her interactive “mind works,” which provide not only artistic metaphorical representations of quantum concepts but also quantum random events that allow viewers to test their beliefs, or otherwise, in a reality that is objective and mind-independent.

ABSTRACT This article presents ArtMaps, a crowdsourcing web-based app for desktop and mobile use that allows users to locate, move and annotate artworks in the Tate collection in relation to one or more sets of locations. Here the authors show that ArtMaps extends the “space” of the museum and facilitates a new pluriperspectival way of looking at art.

ABSTRACT The author describes various aural techniques developed as part of the origination of the sonic content of compositions themed on palimpsests of time and place. Field-based recordings, authentic and synthetic impulse responses, convolution reverb and the use of third-party sounds retrieved via open programmatic interfaces are considered. The role of usability feedback is also discussed, specifically its beneficial impact on informing the development both of the compositions and the techniques they utilize. An initial mobile phone application is described, together with continuing work to develop additional mobile experiences.

ABSTRACT This research explores the descriptive and metaphorical relationships between weaving and wave/particle duality through a series of woven artworks. First, it provides an explanation of the weaving process and its historic use as a metaphor for the cosmos. The pieces discussed are visual metaphors wherein the structure of the fabric becomes the content. This connection is perhaps part of a contemporary cosmological construct, replacing the sacred with science and utilizing weaving as a constant in the continuum.

ABSTRACT Traditional artist-in-science-residency schemes have tended to focus on artists using scientific tools and technology as a medium for their art. What kind and quality of work might occur, however, between scientists working on cutting-edge solar energy research and a visual artist (a sculptor) when they are integrated in a truly collaborative environment? Is it good for the art? Is it good for the science? The authors describe a new methodology for art-science interactions whereby they have integrated arts practice within a scientific environment. A critical aspect of the methodology for the residency was the development of an interaction framework that ensured that both artist and scientist had equal voice in discussions involving the art and science of the project within an environment of mutual respect. The integration led to the development of outcomes that would not have occurred otherwise.

ABSTRACT We are almost always visible to ourselves. Depending on how you are seated, reclining or standing, you will see parts of your nose, legs, hands, arms, shoulders or trunk from your own point of view. Yet these everyday features of our visual world are rarely depicted—and hardly ever in a way that accords with our perceptual experience. This paper will consider why we tend to ignore this “egocentric perspective” and how it can be represented.

ABSTRACT This essay surveys a 20-year period of the author’s studio-based research into “spatial montage” and windowing, elaborating on his use of space imagery in a symbolic system describing the critique of fantasy::reality through symbols that are still used in the contemporary world—how the mythic dimensions of interpreting the “heavens” collide and contradict contemporary scientific interpretations. “Visionary” art is the dynamic focus, with the Moon as the central icon, providing a direct means for the author to consider ambiguities and complexities of symbolic transformation: earlier descriptions of heavens and Earth provide a visionary subtext to scientific exploration. The author considers himself a “ re visionary” artist whose work engages the implicit semiotics of visionary film/visual music to problematize the pseudoscientific theories found there.

ABSTRACT The authors discuss how tangible user interface objects can be important educational and entertainment tools in environmental education. The authors describe their interactive installation artwork Reefs on the Edge , which incorporates tangible user interface objects and combines environmental science and multiple art forms to explore coral reef ecosystems that are threatened by the effects of climate change. The authors/artists argue that the use of tangible user interface in an installation-art setting can help engage and inform the public about crucial environmental issues.

ABSTRACT ATRIA was an immersive sound installation that was the result of a dynamic, reflective dialogue between artist Deborah Robinson and biologist Simon Rundle during Robinson’s residency within the Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, Plymouth University. The work drew on theoretical ideas in developmental biology and the sociology of science and practical, laboratory investigations in developmental physiology. Data from videos of snail embryos used to map physiological function during development using conventional (scientific) diagrams were “remapped” as sound projections into a three-dimensional building space, transposing scientific knowledge into a public experience as a “mutable mobile.”

ABSTRACT The authors discuss the making and distribution of an audio album that was created using parametric techniques and released in 1,000 distinct variations, as a kind of limited edition for the age of digital distribution. After describing the project, they discuss how the project has affected their thinking about the production of electronic music, the process of musical distribution and the concepts of tracks, musical works and uniqueness.